Canada at a Glance, 2023
Tourism

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In 2023, Canadian domestic travel surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels. International travel—inbound and outbound—has improved compared with 2022; however, it has not fully recovered from the effects of the travel restrictions put in place in 2020. Even though recovery rates have begun to slow, tourism trends continue to increase, in some cases exceeding 2019 levels for number of trips and travel expenditures.

To further explore these trends and interact with tourism data, please visit the Frontier Counts: Interactive Dashboard.

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Domestic travel

  • From January to September 2023, Canadian residents took 219.2 million trips within Canada (up 3.0% from the same period in 2019) and spent $58.8 billion on domestic travel (+28.7% compared with  2019)Note . The top three domestic expenditure categories were accommodations ($12.5 billion), vehicle operations ($11.2 billion), and spending in restaurants and bars ($9.8 billion).

Chart 31

Data table for Chart 31 
Data table for chart 31
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for chart 31 Number of visitors (appearing as column headers).
number of visitors
United Kingdom 730,095
France 571,065
Mexico 526,218
India 395,475
Germany 309,619
Australia 264,524
China 206,275
South Korea 135,899
Brazil 132,832
Japan 111,821
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 24-10-0050-01.

Outbound travel

  • From January to November 2023, Canadian residents returned from 43.4 million trips abroad (countries outside of Canada), representing 83.9% of the pre-pandemic level from 2019. For the first nine months of 2023, the main reason Canadian residents travelled abroad was for holidays, leisure, or recreation, followed by visiting friends and family.
  • From January to November 2023, Canadian residents returned from 8.9 million overseas trips (countries outside of Canada and the United States of America). From January to September 2023, the top five destinations were Mexico (1.2 million trips), France (543,000), Dominican Republic (485,100), the United Kingdom (443,500), and Cuba (397,300). During the same nine months, total overseas travel expenditures reached $15.4 billion (+0.6% compared with the same period in 2019), with accommodations as the top spending category ($7.0 billion).

Chart 32

Data table for Chart 32 
Data table for chart 32
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for chart 32 United States residents entering Canada and Canadian residents returning from the United States, calculated using number of visitors units of measure (appearing as column headers).
United States residents entering Canada Canadian residents returning from the United States
number of visitors
2018
January 1,146,690 3,206,391
February 1,186,593 2,984,793
March 1,495,019 4,066,474
April 1,437,650 3,893,105
May 2,015,515 3,929,861
June 2,982,857 3,568,775
July 3,522,169 4,298,575
August 3,402,996 4,674,799
September 2,319,196 3,629,642
October 1,795,847 3,551,483
November 1,435,666 3,241,304
December 1,672,242 3,329,676
2019
January 1,140,166 3,035,434
February 1,158,358 2,836,843
March 1,457,330 4,004,204
April 1,589,192 3,816,335
May 2,135,005 3,743,616
June 2,998,407 3,491,187
July 3,615,631 4,310,150
August 3,552,265 4,766,463
September 2,295,325 3,634,855
October 1,854,059 3,504,393
November 1,464,188 3,286,910
December 1,697,726 3,383,473
2020
January 1,201,690 3,069,835
February 1,281,300 3,073,031
March 610,781 2,237,531
April 51,042 151,775
May 72,078 169,316
June 101,607 210,824
July 113,414 233,672
August 120,824 254,258
September 112,980 250,399
October 112,513 268,993
November 98,444 252,607
December 113,887 271,069
2021
January 86,456 264,999
February 75,398 216,261
March 95,943 256,854
April 95,634 283,318
May 113,451 311,849
June 128,447 310,858
July 194,799 393,797
August 509,669 506,130
September 518,223 474,741
October 488,616 556,775
November 439,089 785,838
December 550,264 1,119,062
2022
January 218,558 690,166
February 314,845 686,331
March 465,235 1,337,777
April 759,600 2,082,892
May 1,112,682 2,208,563
June 1,724,681 1,986,034
July 2,193,729 2,590,353
August 1,968,894 2,981,103
September 1,560,470 2,454,950
October 1,388,757 2,778,994
November 1,036,655 2,576,282
December 1,221,069 2,468,779
2023
January 866,679 2,744,340
February 945,125 2,506,356
March 1,094,111 3,340,318
April 1,300,810 3,194,372
May 1,831,775 3,146,982
June 2,652,705 2,779,175
July 3,130,621 3,710,779
August 2,834,744 4,016,428
September 2,174,918 3,078,088
October 1,628,185 3,132,432
November 1,219,676 2,857,395
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 24-10-0053-01.

Inbound travel

  • From January to November 2023, non-resident visitors to Canada totalled 25.2 million, representing 83.4% of the pre-pandemic level from the same period in 2019. Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and Alberta were the most-visited provinces.
  • From January to November 2023, overseas residents visiting Canada (5.5 million) reached 79.3% of 2019 levels, with most arrivals (79.2%) being by air. During those 11 months, the top five overseas countries visiting Canada were the United Kingdom (730,100), France (571,100), Mexico (526,200), India (395,500), and Germany (309,600). From January to November 2023, trips to Canada by European residents reached 80.8% of trips recorded in 2019, while trips taken to Canada by residents of Asia reached 64.2% of those recorded in 2019. Using preliminary numbers for the first half of 2023, total travel spending by overseas residents fell by 10.7% ($4.5 billion) when compared with the pre-pandemic level from 2019.

Chart 33

Data table for Chart 33 
Data table for chart 33
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for chart 33 Overseas residents entering Canada and Canadian residents returning from overseas countries, calculated using number of visitors units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Overseas residents entering Canada Canadian residents returning from overseas countries
number of visitors
2018
January 319,435 1,272,965
February 339,668 1,108,663
March 366,484 1,387,678
April 377,816 1,189,782
May 596,192 921,126
June 810,589 751,538
July 993,208 877,397
August 954,770 1,072,959
September 781,814 867,885
October 534,244 772,180
November 314,647 788,356
December 472,977 954,607
2019
January 352,048 1,320,940
February 336,122 1,164,860
March 346,235 1,446,162
April 482,279 1,166,847
May 673,939 971,336
June 889,076 780,582
July 1,097,789 869,052
August 1,060,162 1,119,421
September 849,114 877,833
October 568,510 790,372
November 322,786 842,824
December 494,059 993,314
2020
January 365,627 1,361,060
February 314,407 1,216,680
March 149,471 1,020,696
April 16,612 29,310
May 14,284 26,321
June 19,917 35,858
July 28,358 53,343
August 37,840 90,588
September 34,797 74,416
October 27,403 72,263
November 28,715 73,246
December 40,359 108,256
2021
January 34,465 160,522
February 26,257 79,596
March 27,640 48,846
April 35,000 55,065
May 26,836 51,379
June 34,493 61,188
July 63,670 141,303
August 91,313 341,726
September 153,439 313,600
October 160,736 301,448
November 121,182 366,902
December 211,096 503,444
2022
January 79,659 463,653
February 104,992 386,325
March 148,925 684,967
April 241,713 708,720
May 315,447 652,365
June 464,061 571,672
July 621,251 720,811
August 546,560 752,851
September 468,617 538,674
October 367,181 490,770
November 231,688 508,921
December 368,379 614,448
2023
January 241,058 851,875
February 255,854 774,653
March 288,198 985,520
April 373,216 875,935
May 545,244 763,997
June 701,679 652,936
July 867,492 756,999
August 770,968 924,932
September 682,307 779,765
October 509,823 768,690
November 300,383 797,886
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 24-10-0053-01.

References

Frontier Counts
National Travel Survey
Visitor Travel Survey



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© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2022

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Catalogue no. 12-581-X

Frequency: Annual

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